Lapland holidays

Souvenirs are omnipresent in Lapland. There are gift shops at all the main tourist attractions and, although it’s possible to blow the budget on cuddly husky teddies and traditional wooden toys, you can also find bookmarks, key rings, and books to remind you of your time in Finland. Rauna Arctic Wildlife Park has really tempting gift shops.

Shopping sprees are easily done in Rovaniemi. There are 3 large malls, filled with fashion and beauty stores, on Maakuntakatu and Koskikatu Street. The brands out here are a bit different to those on the UK’s high street, but names like Cubus, Only and Seppala are the equivalents of H&M, Zara and Mango. Prices are pretty reasonable, too – you can get a full outfit for around £100.

Goldsmiths started popping up in Lapland during the gold rush of 1865. There’s a really good one in Santa Claus Village near Rovaniemi. All the designs here are inspired by Lappish culture, like the northern lights and polar bear paw prints. There’s also a gold village, 25 minutes’ drive from Saariselka, where you can pan for your own gold.

It’s easy to make dinner the main event in Lapland. Most hotels offer bespoke dining experiences. You can eat by the side of crackling fires inside Lappish wilderness huts in Saariselka and eat in a timbered elves’ cottage in Levi. If you’d rather escape the chill, check out the comedy club in Levi or pop into one of the bars on Saariseläntie in Saariselka to shoot pool.

Most Lappish hotels offer some form of in-house entertainment. Lots of them put on karaoke nights and others have their own disco. If you want to get out, though, Levi and Rovaniemi have the liveliest nightlife. In Levi, the best clubs with VIP areas have an address on Keskuskuja. In the latter, Koskikatu and Valtakatu bear the brunt of the late night bar and clubbing muscle.

Reindeer is deserving of its own ‘50 ways with’ cookbook. In Lapland, you can try roast reindeer steak, boiled reindeer tongue, reindeer liver pate, reindeer jerky, reindeer pastrami, and reindeer stew. And, you can wash it all down with a glass of reindeer milk.

Every traditional Lappish menu worth its salt features a dish made with Lappish cheese. Most commonly, it’s baked in cream and served with a jam, but it can also be used in salads and added to porridge for breakfast. Texture-wise it’s squeaky, like halloumi.

Cloudberries are similar in shape to a blackberry, but they’re amber-coloured. They’re pretty versatile, and can be used in savoury and sweet dishes. They can be made into a sauce and poured over reindeer steak, or turned into jam and served alongside cheese.

You won’t find plump Warburton-style rolls in the breadbasket when you sit down to dinner in Lapland. Instead, you’ll find sheets of ghakko. Traditionally, this flatbread is baked on a hot stone but, these days, a lot of chefs cheat with a frying pan.

Finland’s winemakers specialise in berry wines. At least 50 Finnish wineries produce the tipple. Berry wine is made slightly differently to grape wine, and extra sugar and yeast is used in the process. The finished product usually contains 13 per cent alcohol, a bit like an old world red.